Our cast heads down under to find the four elements and track down a hidden treasure chest on a massive hunt across Australia. This first day is chock-full of adventure from start to finish, so get ready to dive into the ocean’s depths, make some unlikely friends, and explore everything this continent has to offer.

EPISODE 188. Broadcast on March 9, 2014.

Somewhere off the Australian coast, a hidden treasure chest lies waiting to be found. Man, it looks like Running Man pulled out the big guns for this overseas adventure with those niiiiccee hi-def cameras, and I’m gonna be honest with y’all: I am SO excited.

Back in Seoul, we meet our two special agents looking as dapper as ever: actor Kim Woo-bin (Heirs) and Rain (or Jung Ji-hoon), the Hallyu star who needs no introduction.

They join our regular cast members on the dock (sans Ji-hyo, who’s probably on her crazy drama-filming schedule for Emergency Couple) and Woo-bin gets teased for already tearing up.

Are you sad Jong-seokie couldn’t make it? Darn that swine flu! (And no worries, his eyes are stinging from the sea breeze.)

Time to divide into teams, which are as follows: Rain and Kwang-soo, Woo-bin and Jae-suk, Jong-kook and Haha, and last but not least, Suk-jin and Gary. I love how Gary offers to be paired up with Rain to give us our first pun of the day: “How about bigae [pillow]?”

Jo PD introduces the mission to our team of special agents: to recover the lost treasure chest, which can only be found when the four elements (wind, water, earth, and fire) are aligned. Luckily for them, they’re informed of the chest’s location: Tagalooma Island Resort in Brisbane.

One last thing: the agents pick a card that points to one of the aforementioned elements, but we have yet to see how those will come into play.

Then without further ado, it’s off to Brisbane, Australia, where they’re warmly greeted by a sea of screaming fans. Another helicopter ride takes them along the coastline—a fun experience for some whereas others are gripped with fear.

It’s time to run as soon as they land and they hop on ATVs to drive to the ship wreckage off the shore. As Woo-bin and Rain speed down the seashore, Gary cries out to Suk-jin in alarm: “We’re heading to the sea!” HA.

Rain pulls ahead of Jong-kook for the lead, and then the agents are promptly told they must dive underwater to recover the treasure chest. So they change and climb into a boat, and Kwang-soo asks the staff if the ship is real (versus built by the staff) Caption: Does that even make any sense?

Between an airplane, helicopter, ATV, and boat in such a short span of time, Woo-bin is left awestruck and says it’s the first time he’s ever done all these things. It really is chaotic because it’s run-run-run at the start—here, they must find the right key to open the treasure chest.

Everyone’s motivated today, but then both Suk-jin and Gary admit that neither of them are good divers. Suk-jin: “I was in the Navy, but I didn’t dive.”

Thankfully the water doesn’t look too deep, and it’s Rain who spots the first treasure chest. He grabs all the available keys (smart) before taking a minute to catch his breath. Haha dives down, but then knocks his head on the wreckage. Owwww, that sounded like it hurt.

Diving below turns out to be harder than it looks, but Jae-suk fights his fears to try a key. It doesn’t work, and while Kwang-soo tries one of his keys, Jae-suk grabs onto him like the prankster he is.

There are a lot of keys and the agents grow frustrated that this mission is too hard. And then, Rain unlocks a chest and swims back first. Kwang-soo drags his Easy Brother hyung Suk-jin back with him to the boat, which leaves Gary wondering where his teammate has gone.

So while Suk-jin grabs another lifevest, Gary tirelessly does the work for the both of them. Serious props to Gary to dive again and again, but it’s Woo-bin who unlocks their chest first.

Back on shore, Rain remains humble about his lucky find whereas Kwang-soo sings his praises. All that hard work was to recover a bottle, which contains a map to their next location: Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary.

That means another helicopter ride (Kwang-soo’s jaw drops), and Kwang-soo and Rain are given a chance to ask which element card they chose. Neither of them knows that they both chose “wind,” and while they decide on who gets to ask, the captions tell us that they can both ask. Hahaha.

Rain allows Kwang-soo to ask on the condition that he’s told what card Kwang-soo has “because I hate being betrayed.” So when Kwang-soo tries to spin it a different way, Rain asks if he intends to betray him later. Is that really a question?

They spend a good few minutes arguing about it some more until they both agree to ask. Rain guesses wrong, and then Kwang-soo jumps through hoops to dance around the question, concerned that they’ll both know if he guesses correctly.

With Rain’s looming threat that he’ll chase Kwang-soo relentlessly if he betrays him later, Kwang-soo finally asks and guesses wrong. Jae-suk and Woo-bin learns that one of them is “fire” (it’s Jae-suk), and then it’s back to the helicopter.

Did Jong-kook use his strength to rip the lock off of the chest? It’s hard to tell, but he open it regardless. After Gary manages to unlock the last chest, he insists that they both worked hard before conceding that he pulled it off. But then they have to double back for the bottle.

Here at the wildlife sanctuary, the teams must high jump a combined 3 meters… wearing kangaroo suits. They look ADORABLE in them, and ha, Woo-bin pops on a pair of shades.

Rain attempts to jump 1.8m and falls on his butt. Woo-bin attempts the same height from the springboard… and then faceplants onto the pad. Rain and Kwang-soo resort to taping their pouches onto their bodies. Is that against the rules?

What’s more hilarious is how the others gripe that the athletic world star can’t resort to cheats, but Rain presses that he’ll do it this way, Ninja Assassin be damned. He does remove the tape though and easily jumps over 1.5m.

The small troop of kangaroos hop away when Kwang-soo tries to get the crowd riled up, but then they oddly stop to watch when he calls out to them. Ack, I hear kangaroos are deceptively aggressive—don’t get them worked up!

Jae-suk and Woo-bin succeed first and are instructed to feed the baby kangaroos. The little ones eat willingly and even allow the Running Man roos to pet them. After overcoming their fears and making some new friends, they’re sent to take a picture of a koala. Gulp, I hear they aren’t naturally friendly either.

Things just aren’t going in Gary’s way today as Suk-jin accidentally headbutts the pole. Rain and Kwang-soo clear their mission and stop to feed the kangaroos.

Jae-suk and Woo-bin chat while they explore the wildlife exhibits, talking about all the things Woo-bin has done for the first time today. Woo-bin acknowledges that this show brought out his inner heodangness and comments on how everything looks so easy as a viewer when the reality is far from it.

Aww, the koalas look cute as they sleep on, but will they be able to find the right one? Also, do I have to worry for their safety a little bit?

All the teams eventually move on to search for their respective koalas, but it doesn’t help when most of them sleep for the majority of the day. Jae-suk’s first guess is incorrect, but it’s funny how he tries to pry information out of the trainer anyway with his limited English. She doesn’t budge, hee.

Jae-suk picks up on her body language for clues and gets lucky the second time around. The next chest contains more clues: buy groceries and a picture of a license plate.

They drive to the market in an open jeep (which Woo-bin says it’s his first time riding in one) in order to buy groceries. Their list is written in English, however, and while resident cook Haha makes some educated guesses, the language barrier lies in his pronunciation. (And also, the employees can’t give them any answers.)

A kind resident understands him though, and even recognizes him, which is pretty cool. Everyone does a fair job of acquiring their necessary ingredients, and it’s Rain and Kwang-soo who succeed first.

They arrive at their accommodations for tonight, which is this huugggeee luxury house. Kwang-soo asks why Rain doesn’t seem surprised, and Rain jokes that it looks exactly like his own house. Heyyy there, we’ve seen your place before!

Wow, it opens up right in front of the beach and the boys stretch out like they own the place. Rain warns Kwang-soo again against betraying him, but while everyone is busy looking at the view, Rain quietly asks the staff if he’s “fire.”

Then Rain totally feigns ignorance when Kwang-soo returns, and tells him the half-truth instead. Kwang-soo gets caught asking Jo PD but doesn’t initially get to hear an answer. He promises to tell Rain what he heard, but something tells me it won’t be that easy.

I love how everyone is thrown off by the fact that they can wear shoes indoors, simply because you don’t in Korea. Once everyone’s gathered together, they’re told that they can switch teammates in order to help deduce who picked what element.

That makes them wonder what the final mission and Jong-kook guesses that it might be nametag ripping where no one knows each other’s identities. The mention brings up sour memories from the You From Another Star parody episode, to which Jong-kook asks that Jae-suk allows him to beat him.

Then Gary jumps on that bandwagon and asks that Suk-jin do the same for him, yunno, for all the hard work he put in today. Ha.

Rain is given first pick, and despite the cast’s suggestions that he choose Suk-jin, he goes with Jong-kook. Damn, it’s game over tomorrow, isn’t it?

After some initial griping over the dangerous combo, Jae-suk jokes that Woo-bin’s revenge towards Jong-kook (for easily throwing him into the pool one time) is long gone. And then Haha says that it’d be hilarious if Woo-bin and Kwang-soo were paired up. You’re putting ideas into Kwang-soo’s head!

Kwang-soo pairs up with Woo-bin as planned, which leaves the mat-hyungs stuck together and Gary with Haha.

The boys are feeling mischievous as they cook dinner, and silently crowd around Suk-jin to throw the mat-hyung into the pool. And then Kwang-soo jokingly pushes Jong-kook in afterwards. Ohhh you are soooo going to pay for that.

So Jong-kook pushes both Kwang-soo and Haha in as payback, and then they’re kicking and pushing each other into the pool left and right. I love how it turns into this big celebratory thing between them where no one is safe, and Rain tries his best to literally keep his head down.

It’s scary-funny how they tap on the glass like a trio of water zombies and then disappear before Rain sees just to freak him out. They eventually corner him to throw him in anyway, shirtless. Best. Episode. Ending. Ever.

And oh yay, Ji-hyo will join the others starting from the Melbourne leg of the trip next week!

The pool scene started out a bit mean I think but the fact it became a huge pool party prank at the end made it hilarious, I was dying during the water zombie part and also how Woo Bin only came back for steak haha, this episode was fantastic!

This episode was so fun! And chock-full of action and excitement, especially after last week’s largely inactive episode. I love, love, LOVED the ending with the water dunking. I laughed so hard at the whole thing, especially the water zombies. They were all so cute and silly like a bunch of kids, haha and they looked like they were having so much fun.

I’m so glad the cast is getting such an amazing opportunity. They really deserve it after the years of such hard work and it was great seeing them welcomed so warmly to Australia. I also think they did a good job of incorporating the various cultural sights without making them seem shoehorned in. I didn’t even know they had that cool sunken boat reef thing there, wow. I’m a little sad Jihyo missed out but at least she’ll be there for the next episode.

Rain was such a great guest. Gwangsoo lucked out getting paired with someone so capable. I love how he got right into doing the Cross slogan and cautioning Gwangsoo not to betray him (but then doing the same when he got the chance). I also cracked up at how he strutted around that gorgeous host pad like he owned the place. Granted, it does look a lot like his actual house. Man, Rain is an entertaining guy.

Poor Kim WooBin – I feel like he really didn’t know what he was getting himself into with this episode. No, Running Man is not easy, especially not when they do things on such a grand scale! Also I have to say watching this episode of Running Man, I finally started to see why some people find Kim WooBin so attractive. He has great hair and his features may be strange but in a pleasing sort of way.

Poor Gary, man. He really had a hard time of it this episode with SukJin. But he was a trooper despite it. I loved the high jump in the kangaroo suits and Jaesuk getting close to the kangaroos and the grocery challenge and of course, the ending again. I also cracked up at them saying they felt like they were in an American drama after walking into the host house and asking if it was okay to keep their shoes on. I also love every time they have to speak English. Balsamic. This episode was awesome and did not disappoint. I can’t wait for MongJi and the Rain Kook team next week, God willing.

Yes, great episode! Gary really was working OT right from the start. Woo Bin was worn out I bet, but its cool he had all those “firsts”. Boy, I wish I had a beachfront house like their luxury rental. I’m glad they showed the clips from their nighttime antics. Looking forward to Ji Hyo joining part 2.

Trust me, beachfront houses are only nice in theory. No one ever talks about what happens if the beach starts naturally eroding or about how the sea spray that hits the house daily weathers it and causes all sorts of necessary repairs or about how noisy it is when the beach is crowded. It is really over-rated, honestly. It’s better to live near the beach than directly on it.

lol on the shoes thing…, a little OT, why isn’t it allowed to wear shoes indoors in Korea? My assumption is that it has to do with traditional customs, but maybe there’re other reasons? I’m sorry if this has been asked before oh and thanks for the recap!

actually in alot of asian countries, we all dont wear shoes indoor. People do that as they dont want to dirty their house. it is also disrespect to your host if you wear yr shoes in. Also, places where it is hot year round like South east asia, barefoot is more comfortable.

Thank you for your reply, jude You know, I just realized that taking off shoes, or any foot wear for that matter, and go barefoot before entering people’s residence are also a custom in my country, haha, silly me! I’m southeast asian. But as far as I’m concerned we are advised to do it, its not, like, forbidden to NOT take off our shoes. Sometimes it depends on the host. While in Korea(n dramas), I almost always or maybe even always see people switch their shoes to slippers every time they enter anybody’s house/apartment, and never barefoot…er, I think *trying hard to recall any barefoot actors in dramas hahaha. Anyways, sorry again for the off-topic

I want to second that shoes are removed in a lot of Asian countries and expand on the point.

jude mentioned the idea of not dirtying your house by removing shoes. It’s not some ocd-don’t-muck-up-my-carpet type thing. For some of the major religions, there is the idea that god is in the home. And so you remove your shoes before entering a home the way you remove them before entering a place of worship.

There is also the cultural idea of leaving the outside world (and its problems) outside. So you can show respect to a host by not tracking in the crap of the world. Interestingly enough, because shoe removal is a cultural thing , there are even Christian churches than require shoe removal (at least in some parts of Asia).

Aah, interesting…thanks for the insight, S! I wonder if the shoe removal is religion-related in Korea, specifically? Or is it more cultural? And I can’t help but notice that people (in kdramas) always switch their shoes with slippers indoors. Koreans must have really clean feet, compared to mine that always go barefoot in my house lol

Well if this is relevant in anyway, I’ve been taking off my shoes since I was a baby when I entered the house. Then inside you switch to slippers or run around barefoot if you like it better. I’m pretty sure shoe removal being connected to religion has been around forever, but nowadays especially in North American-Asian families its connected to keeping the house clean.
So to answer your question its definitely more culture specific in North American countries.
And nah…, my feet are dirty too sometimes I kick my slippers off when I’m walking around the house. My mom hates it cause she’ll find them lying around in random places

That’s what I’ve always wondered too, about the slippers vs. going barefoot. I’m used to taking off my shoes when I step indoors (when I watched American TV shoes it was jarring that families would be hanging around at home with their shoes on, and putting their shod feet on the furniture), but I don’t wear slippers, I just go barefoot. I’ve tried wearing slippers or flip flops, because they do keep my feet from getting so dirty, but I’m not used to them so it feels weird.

Here’s something I’ve wondered about the slippers thing: if you have a party or a gathering at your house, are you expected to provide slippers for everybody, or would people be okay with just walking around in their socks or bare feet?

Good question, tdot! Never thought of Korean house parties or gatherings, so now you’re making me wonder too… In my place, guests just wear their shoes at indoor parties, or in the case of close friends or family gatherings, we just go barefoot!

6.2.1.2.2 ...March 14th, 2014 at 10:09 AM

it depends on the host, but from my experience, most ppl will provide slippers for all the guests (yes we keep dozens of spare slippers specially for guests)

Thanks very much for the answer! My curiosity has finally been satisfied!

6.2.1.2.4 MeganMarch 14th, 2014 at 7:46 PM

I remember when I first started going out with my Japanese boyfriend in college, he took me by one of his Japanese friends’ place after we went to a club, and a bunch of other Japanese students were over, just hanging out. Having a good time with some stuff that they’d get into a lot of trouble for if they were back in Japan (or Korea), if ya know what I’m sayin’. Anyways, it was a huge culture shock for me– this was in Texas, BTW– when I walked in the door and I was met by a mountain of shoes in the entrance way. It was just natural for everyone to just pop their shoes off as soon as they walk in the door.

On the other hand, when I went with him to a Halloween party, which was at a different Japanese friends house, it was a big party and I don’t remember taking my shoes off, or anyone else doing so either. But it was also a lot more mixed (half Japanese, half American students). So size and tone of party or gathering probably goes into consideration.

Exaclty the same here. I’ve grown up not wearing shoes inside the house (I’m south Asian), so when I first learned that western people wear shos inside, it came as such a shock to me. For us, it’s both cleanliness and religious purposes intertied. Not only do we have to keep clean for general purposes, but also because we pray a lot and it requires many postures where we even bend down and out our head in the floor, so. No dirtiness inside.

6.3 SaeMarch 14th, 2014 at 11:01 AM

It’s actually custom to remove your shoes in Arab countries too. Although they probably don’t provide slippers for all their guests.

So maybe it’s safe to say that providing slippers for house guests are a Korean thing? Maybe Japanese also? I have yet watched any Jdramas so I have no reference. Slippers made me super curious all of the sudden lol

Another reason in South Korea to tajevtheor shoes off is cause somebof thebhouses, they have heated floor. They heat theor floor during winter. If u have seen any drama you probably seen them sleeping on the floor instead of a bed.

I went to Australia once and visited a zoo where a keeper told me that koalas are actually aggressive and we shouldn’t bother them when they were asleep. So I was like, completely in torment when the casts kept calling their koalas name. Don’t wake them up!!

I’ve only watched a few episodes of Running Man here and there, but this one was by far my favourite. It took me over two hours to finish the episode because I kept going back to rewatch certain parts again and giggle over them. And I agree with everyone about the revelation of seeing Woo Bin on this show (not just this time, but every time he’s been on). In dramas and photo shoots, he’s all smoulder and swagger, but on Running Man he’s all little boy awkwardness and discombobulation. It is too adorable.

Granted his episode with Park Shin-hye & Choi Jin-hyuk was really boring imo (unlike his awesome first appearance with Lee Jong-suk and this episode as well), but I agree that he’s been so endearingly awkward in every appearance.

I totally agree about Kim WooBin. His actual personality seems so different from his cool, tough characters and it’s really endearing. I love how boyish, awkward and overwhelmed he seemed to be. Even at the end, you could see that he was a bit hesitant with the pool antics, probably because he’s younger and doesn’t know them that well.

Hmmm, somehow, even though this is shot overseas, their ‘One Chance’ missions from the olden days felt more exciting than this. Those ideas had a different kind of crazy that was epic in their own way.

I never thought Woo-bin was handsome until seeing him in this episode of Running Man. I guess the dude looks good in red blazers I thought it was funny that he was so concerned with keeping up a cool image, when he was actually cuter when showing his bumbling side.

I love how Rain is down to Earth and humble. He doesn’t put on airs, rather, he’s matter-of-fact. I also like that he’s competitive without being over the top. I was really excited at the end when they took off his shirt to throw him in (lol!), but they never showed his abs (*pout*).

I wonder how Ji-hyo’s presence in next episode will affect the dynamics.

Hahahahhaah!!! I wish i live on the east coast of Australia!! But I’m on the west lol i laughed when you were talking about the kangaroos and koala’s. It’s true that they can get violent, but the ones in the wildlife sanctuaries are slightly more used to humans. So they usually won’t attack unless you aggravate them. lol so cute!!

I don’t watch Running Man every week anymore like I used to, now I’ll see Ji-hyo won an episode, watch that episode and I’ll start watching every week again, then I get bored and stop watching till Ji-hyo wins again starting the cycle all over again.

Despite being a sausage fest that was a fun episode.

I really liked the overseas episodes until they started going every other week, or so it seemed.

The set-up here kind of reminds me of my favorite overseas trip and one of my favorite set of Running Man episodes, I believe it was the Chinese trip. Ji-hyo couldn’t make the first day, but then flew in the middle of the night and kicked everyone’s a**, Jong-kook was her “helper” but from what I remember she didn’t really need him. Although I feel like the Ji-hyo from back in those days was different from the current Ji-hyo I don’t know maybe it’s my memory coloring things differently but it feels like back then she was always on and engaged wanting to be there whether she won or not, now she just seems, I don’t want to say lazy that’s not right, it’s more like bored and disinterested like she doesn’t really want to be there anymore.

I think the 5th element is Ji-hyo. And yeah, I agree that she seems less than energetic in recent eps but I’m attributing that to her crazy drama schedule. Hopefully once “Emergency Couple” is over, we get Ace Ji-hyo back!!!!

They’ve mentioned Ji Hyo’s sleep exhaustion several times in recent episodes and she’s been regularly shown on camera napping during and between games. Most epically while lying on top of a five meter tower of styrofoam jenga bricks.

Hopefully she’ll catch some shut-eye while flying down to Australia. She’s not the sort to have trouble falling asleep on an airplane.

I forgot to mention how cute it was that they were singing Shower Later just before they threw Gary in the pool. I know they did it with Rain too but I found it even cuter with Gary because I love seeing the cast supporting each other’s other endeavors, like a family. It’s so endearing. Plus I’d never even heard that Rain song before the show, lol, so I didn’t recognize it.

I was so excited to watch this episode, and had a mini meltdown when the site I usually watch from encountered some technical issues on Monday!

Thankfully, this episode did not disappoint The last time I went to Brissy was years ago so it was great to relieve those memories! Always found Rain really cute, and I didnt realize he’s already 31, until Kwangsoo called him Hyung! Haha the 2 were such a great time. Rain being so athletic, and enthusiastic with the CROSS! and dont you find that Kwangsoo has mellowed a lot in recent eps? He’s now more like his true self – respectful and hilarious without being overbearing or annoying.

The best part of the episode would have to be the last 10 minutes! LOVED seeing the guys act like kids, esp the water zombie part. HILARIOUS. Haha it would probably have been milder had Jihyo been around but nonetheless I can’t wait for her to join the cast next ep!!

Oh my God! I havn’t watch this ep. yet, but reading gets me SO excited as well; fun, fun, fun! Daebak!
wow, this is my kind of adventures, ATV, snorkling Lol
I recently thought what if RM do an episode of the 4 elements, how will this turn out, and there it is.
wind, water, earth, and fire: you never tell when luck is on your side.

Who remember watching the TV series “Endurance” on Nick? anyone?

I hope the PD/Writer makes a memory book for their guests. Look how cute & excited he is about doing these things first time in his life

Awww. I actually miss her in this episode. Throughout the episode, I was like: “When is she going to surprise them? Where is she? Where are you hiding?” She’s actually my ultimate favorite among the Running Man. She’s an amazing gal who is bright, competitive, and sweet too. For instance, in one episode w/ Kim Soo Hyun and Lee Hyun Woo as guests, she even gave a chicken that she caught to Haha because Haha was too scared. She would’ve won but instead, she thought of Haha and gave it to her so he won instead.

I’m looking forward to the next one because Ji Hyo is in it. There is no RM w/o Ji Hyo. Replacing her w/ any woman would be a terrible mistake. Ji Hyo shows no fear and she doesn’t care for her ‘graceful’ look (if you know what I mean).

I love our Unni and I am sure you said this because you can see as much as I, that she has the potential to be a really good actress. I feel like sometimes …. don’t get me wrong guys but RM due to scheduling and everything could have an effect on this but then I thought of say Uhm Tae Wong or Joo Won, etc. so you know I don’t want RM to be an excuse for her (sometimes and truth hurts )mediocre….. maybe uninspired acting?.

I still think she is a good actress but one that needs guidance or improvement. I don’t want her to give up RM, this show won’t be the same without her. Period.
But something has to give….. oh, life.

This was a great episode and the whole cast is very lucky to be sponsored by the Australian government to be able to do all the stuff that they’re doing now (helicopters, tourist spots and the huge house ). This show is already a classic. I just hope the show won’t end until they are able to go across all continents …… hahaha. I mean wouldn’t it be great seeing them going to Europe and Antarctica??!!! LOL, wishful thinking it’ll be too expensive.

@tttrish Dude, if you are going to write these things don’t even bother. Stop being a troll and be more mature. The fact that you get so upset you think SJH ruins RM speaks volumes of your intelligence as a human being. Go feed the trolls somewhere else. Not here.

Tbh, it’s RM recap is the top reason that made me do another visit to DB. And I like all the RM casts, they are all have unique char. It made me sad if one could not appreciate somebody’s effort whatever the outcome is.

I’ve never watched RM before, but watched this episode for RAIN!! I was so waiting for this recap to come out because although i watched it w/ subtitles there were things I didn’t quite get. So thanks Gummi! This was very entertaining overall though . . . or it might have been. I was sort of all about RAIN the entire time so I may have to watch it again.

Watching this really made me laugh at myself b/c of how gaga I am over RAIN. I have always been ridiculously and unexplainably obsessed with him. It’s very odd b/c aside from my love of one music group’s music, I’ve actually never been a “fan” of any celebrity before. I drool over hot celebs frequently, I’ve liked certain people in certain roles, I’ve like certain songs, I’ve even loved certain shows, but it’s never extended to fandom for me. So this thing with RAIN is just crazy. All I know is that I have embraced the special craziness of the korean fangirl syndrome & I may be worse than the renditions I’ve seen on kdramas.

Watching RM, for example, I got genuinely peeved b/c Kim Woo Bin’s name came on screen first, then because he appeared first after the opening. Then I felt they showed Kim Woo Bin in the helicopter ride way more than they showed RAIN. It went on & on. Someone slap me (unless you’re a kim woo bin fangirl–then just please be understanding that I may be as certifiable as you are).

I’m a rain fan too and I’m so happy that I able to watch him film running man here in Melbourne. I live in Adelaide and it’s 9 hours drive from here but I went there just to see Rain again (I first saw him in his the best concert in Singapore and in his private conference before the concert). It was tiring and i’m so desperate at first and almost give up to chase running man in Melbourne because the schedule was very blur unlike their schedule in Brisbane. But luckily I managed to get the schedule on their Melbourne filming. Federation Square was confirmed but since the PD’s saw how crowded the place is they changed their schedule and didn’t let the public know because they don’t want the filming to be interrupted because they have a tight schedule. He was really handsome and his charm is on a different level. I was so lucky to shake his hand I got starstruck again and it’s my third time seeing him but this time it was really really really close and because of that forgot to get his autograph. But I was happy that I can walk side by side with him while they film the show. it really as too crowded that even the cast was so shocked seeing all the people. Sovereign filming was a bit peaceful and controllable and you can really see all of them running here and there and doing the mission. Photo taking is not allowed but I managed to take some photos Can’t wait for part 2 and 3 of Australia Special. This sunday we might be seeing the part they filmed in Melbourne CBD and next week will be the individual name tag ripping they shoot in Sovereign

I dont usually watch RM but this ep was sooo good and hilarious. So gr8 that we are able to see a different and perhaps the true sides of the K idols. As you most would agree that KWB is so polite and very down to earth. Whereas you see that Rain is very sporty, competitive and has that Star personality in him that he has build up since being an older and more popular idol. Loved this ep and cant wait for it to continue next week in Melbourne.

I honestly tuned out the first twenty minutes. It was one big tourism commercial for Australia. From the helicopter ride to the ATV ride to the deep-sea diving, nothing but dramatic background music with barely any dialogue. It only started feeling like Running Man when Rain and Kwang Soo got back on shore.

It was funny how all four teams’ first question was “We have to get back on the helicopter!?” I’m always mesmerized by Jong Kook’s English. Aww at Woo Bin feeding the kangaroos.

I never liked how when shows go overseas, they always focus on the foreign (white) fans, even though there were clearly Asian, even Korean, fans at the airport.

“And oh yay, Ji-hyo will join the others starting from the Melbourne leg of the trip next week!”

LOL totaly what what came to mind for me at the end of the show too. Frankly another episode of just the ‘boys’ would drive me crazy. It seem some sort of rule that get a group of guys together for any length of time, then watch the mental age of said group start to drop until we down to preschool age by the time we get to the end of the show..:-)
Yay for the balance of Ji-hyo for next time!

funny how it takes Ji-hyo’s absence to make you realize just how tremendously valuable she is to the show. and there were no female guests too, so we’ve been practically drowning in testosterone throughout this episode.

there are 4 highlights for me in this episode.

1. when Gary bumped against the glass door at the supermarket — it could have been downright embarrassing but being a real trouper that he is, he just laughs it off and capped it off with a perfect punchline: “Yes. I’m a comedian.” **i think he deserves a gold medal for that** LOL

3. LKS pushing Jong-kook to the pool — the expression on KJK’s face was priceless. man, he was so pissed off he looked like he could have cheerfully throttled LKS on the spot (if LKS had been within reach at that moment, I would have feared for his safety). and clearly, Jong-koot was in no way to be placated. nyehehe…

4. KJK prying the lock open (of that treasure chest) without using a key (it’s like cutting the Gordian knot).

this looked like an exhausting episode and I really feel sorry for some of these guys (i.e., Gary and KJK for doing the heavy lifting for their respective teams).

my favorite part was the living room powwow and the pool roughhousing that came later. it looked like a perfect way to end a busy day. Rain was a cool guest, and Woo-bin proved to be a good fit with YJS.

can’t wait for the next episode. with Ji-hyo’s presence, things are bound to get better

#3-Jong Kook saying those were his only PJs, lol…we all know Gary sleeps naked (as the camera girls ‘one-two punch’ who walked in on him sleeping for a morning mission were very surprised to find out!) but now another RM cast member will have to sleep in the buff too! REALLY hope they bring back morning missions, they are my favorite!

This Ep was great! I loved the Kangaroo outfits. Anyone notice how gi-normous the yellow K Feet WooBin got?They were the only huge ones. Even some of hoods had bigger K noses than the others. So funny.

The editing was weird. The k jumping bit: at one point they all had their yellow feet on. The next scene they were all in sneakers, the next scene they all had their yellow feet on. Make up your kangaroo minds already!

I was so surprised at everyone’s command of English. Pretty darned good. I can’t always understand the Australian accent but they did.

Rain’s English was great, sounded like he had an American accent.

Jae-suk was so cute in the “Ahmaandaa” scene, “Sawrry, sawrrry”. Precious – that’s what it is.

I know that these episodes are CFs for Australia Tourism, but was hoping for a bit more fun and excitement, and found this episode rather pedestrian. And I could not possibly disagree more strongly with this statement:

“And oh yay, Ji-hyo will join the others starting from the Melbourne leg of the trip next week”

The ONLY redeeming feature of ep 188 for me was that she was NOT in it, sparing herself the exhaustion of all that flying and filming while still busy with her Drama. As much as I love her in RM, and found the episode flat wigthout her, I hate, hate, HATE, the hideous strain she’s putting herself under doing the Australia eps while also filming Emergency Couple, and hope we don’t see her back in hospital again.

The pool scene at the end was absolutely priceless! I love how much fun the RM family has with each other, and how the guests find themselves getting dragged into all the craziness, like a group of elementary school boys.

This australia special episodes is so boring and dull. Can’t they do something more fun there? is australia really that boring?
aaand it strucks me that it’s because jihyo was not there. So yeah, enjoy this fun thrilling “wow i love it” episode orz

wow I never expected to see such strong feelings against Jihyo. ruining RM? what’s with the hate? (I completely understand the comment about not wanting to see her in hospital again, I feel the same way.)

anyway I really enjoyed this episode, even if they had to film it like a CF for Australia. I didn’t even know about the shipwreck off Moreton Island hah. I liked how baffled Rain looked when Amanda told him they got the wrong koala hehe he was so sure he was right! and Jaesuk was spot on when he implied that they only see kangaroos as dangerous because they only look for those sorts of videos on the net! (But don’t aggravate one.)